Action advertising device



Patented May 22, 1951 UNITED STATES PATsr rrlcs 2,554,063 ACTION ADVERTISING DEVICE Charles E. Serrine, Indianapolis, Ind.

Application August 8, 1946, Serial No. 689,083

4 Claims.

vertising device, that is, one which depends for its attraction effect upon movement or simulation of movement. I am aware that devices are known wherein an element having alternating opaque sections and translucent sections is interposed between a light source and a perforated mask and moved relative thereto, but I have devised an improvement over anything in that art heretofore known to me. The primary object of the present invention is to provide a device of the general character above mentioned so'constructed as to produce a sparkling, twinklin eiiect,.and further so constructed as to producethe effect of moving vari-colored lights. A further object is totake advantage of the reflective and refractive effect upon light rays of a cut edge of glass or other translucent material moving between a light source and a port or opening in .an opaque mask. Another object of my invention is to utilize the refractive effect of a glass prism of known characteristics to produce a sparkling effeet in a device of the character here under consideration. A still further object of the invention is to introduce into a device of the character above described means for producing changing colors in the sparkling light emanating from such a device, Additionally, I prefer to embody my invention in the housing of a clock, though such an arrangement is b no means an essential feature of my invention.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however. that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated. I A

Fig. l is a front elevation of .a clock assembly into which m invention has been incorporated;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, partly in central section; and

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of an element constituting a feature of my invention.

Since one of the more conventional uses for my invention will be in connection with a clock displayed for public. view, with 'o'ifiwithout advertising matter directly associated therewith, I have chosen to illustrate my invention in such an assembly. Thus, in the drawings; the referencenumeral I indicates a housin for a more or less conventional clock mechanism; having as- -2 sociated therewith a cover element l l which may preferably be formed to provide a mounting for a glass plate or crystal 12. As shown, the cover element includes a radially-inwardly projecting annular mask section II which is provided with a plurality of peripherally spaced openings l3 which are located on a common circle concen trio with the housing 10. In each of said openings, I prefer to mount a light-refracting prism, such prisms being indicated by the reference nu" meral l4; and, in the illustrated embodiment of my invention each including a head and a reduced shank dimensioned to extend snugly through one of the openings l3. the type herein illustrated are frequently mounted outdoors, I have shown a gasket I5 of rubber or similar material interposed between the head of each prism and the outer surface of the mask ll to'provide a weather seal; but it will be clear that if the installation is not to be subject to open weather conditions, such gaskets may not be necessary. The inner end of the shank of each prism may be threaded, as shown, for the reception of a threaded collar or nut l6, whereby the prism may be clamped in place and the gasket [5, if present, may be compressed. While I presently believe this securing means to be preferable, it will be clear that other suitable means for securing the prisms in place may be substituted therefor.

At I1, I have shown a standard clock dial, and the clock mechanism in the housing it will include the standard hour hand I3 and minute hand I9 mounted in front of the dial ll in operative association therewith.

A suitable light source is mounted in front of the dial [1 and also preferably in front of the hands I8 and I9. For optimum results, I prefer to use a ring-shaped luminous tube 20 so mounted and dimensioned as to be completely masked rrom' direct view t ro gh the crystal I2 by the mask section H of the-cover H; but some of the advantages of my invention can be attained even if some other type of light source is used in place of the illustrated tube 20. Preferably, the tube 20 will be rather accurately located in registry with the annular series of prisms it.

Mounted upon a shaft 2| driven by the clock me'chani sm in the housing It) at relatively high Since clocks of be seen; and preferably the shaft 2| will be the shaft for the standard second hand of the clock mechanism, making one revolution per minute. In such case, I may preferably print upon or attach to the disc 22 within the region 23 a marker 24 to serve as the second indicator of the clock. The disc 22 may be made of glass or of any of the transparent plastic materials; or the moving member may be merely an annulus mounted upon a spoked structure which will interfere only slightly with a clear view of the dial 3' and hands 18 and I9.

At any rate, in the region of the tube 26 and the annular series of prisms I4, the moving member will be arranged to provide a continuous area comprising alternately arranged substantially opaque sections and translucent sections. In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, this area consists of a blackened annular band 25 interrupted intermittently by translucent windows, as shown. I prefer to arrange these windows in peripherally spaced series, as at 26, 21, 28, 29 and 30; and while preferably the individual areas of the windows will be substantially equal, I prefer to make the various series of unequal peripheral lengths.

The windows may, if desired, be openings cut or otherwise formed through the disc 22, or they may, alternatively, be merely unblackened regions in the transparent material of the disc 22. If actual openings are formed through the disc material, I presently believe that improved results are obtained because of the reflective and refractive effect of the edges'of those openings upon the light rays emanating from the source 20, as the edges move past the inner ends of the prisms M. It will be clear, of course, that the element 22 is so dimensioned and positioned that the windows register successively with the successive prisms as the element '22 is moved relative to said prisms.

For optimum attraction effects, I prefer to provide means whereby the color of the light transmitted to the prisms is modified as it flows through the windows, and to make each series of windows impart to the light a different and distinctive color. The simplest way to accomplish that result is to cover each series of windows with a strip of suitably colored translucent material, such as cellophane, or the like. Alternatively, the translucent material of the disc 22 itself may be suitably dyed to render the region. 25 substantially opaque and to impart to each window a desired color.

While I have spoken, repeatedly, of a structure in which the region 25 is blackened or opaque, it will be recognized that the colored windows may alternatively be separated by uncolored translucent regions. Under such an arrangement, light will flow continuously from the light source to the prisms, but will change in color as the windows, alternating with the intermediate, uncolored translucent regions, pass through registry with each prism.

The drawing forming a part hereof is lined to indicate that the windows of the series 26 will impart a blue color to light passing therethrough, windows 27 will change the light to green, windows 28 will make .it red, windows 29 will make it purple, and windows 36 willmake it yellow; but

it will be clear that any desired colors, arranged in any desired order, may be substituted for those so indicated.

In operation, the light source will be energized, and the disc 22 will be rotated. As the blackened regions 25 come into position between the light source and any selected prism, that prism will be darkened. When one of the windows approaches registry with that prism (if the window is of the true opening type above referred to) the advancing edge of the window will reflect and refract light rays from the source to the inner end of that prism, and that light will be transmitted through the prism to cause the head of the prism to appear to sparkle and twinkle relatively dimly. As the window continues to advance until it comes into full registry with the selected prism, the head of that prism will glow more and more brilliantly; and of course it is a function of that type of prism to sparkle with light transmitted therethrough.

The coloring of the Windows, of course, will result in the transmission of colored light through the various prisms; and as each series of windows comes into registry with a selected prism, the apparent color of that prism will change, thus lending a novel variation to the display device in vivid contrast to the monotonous eflect of devices of the same general character heretofore known to me.

I claim as my invention:

1. An action device comprising a fixed light source, a rotatable translucent disc positioned to pass light from said source, a shaft, said disc being secured at its center to said shaft and hav ing a series of peripherally spaced openings adjacent its outer rim, certain of said openings being covered with a colored translucent material, and an annular mask provided with a plurality of uniformly-peripherally-spaced openings, said mask lying substantially in a plane parallel to the plane of said disc, said disc being interposed between said light source and said mask.

2. The device of claim 1 including a lightrefracting prism fixed in each of the openings in said mask.

3. The device of claim 1 in which said light source is an annular luminous tube substantially registering with the openings in said disc and in said mask.

4. The device of claim 1 in which said light source is an annular luminous tube substantially registering with the openings in said disc and in said mask, and including a light-refracting prism fixed in each of the openings in said mask.

CHARLES E. SERRINE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Hotchner Oct. 26, 1987 

